October 16

Births

1938: Nico (Singer in The Velvet Underground & Solo)

1943: C.F. Turner (Vocals & Bass for Bachman-Turner Overdrive)

1947: Bob Weir (Vocals & Guitar for The Grateful Dead & Solo)

1952: Boogie Mosson (Bass for Parliament-Funkadelic)

1960: Bob Mould (Vocals & Guitar for Husker Du, Sugar & Solo)

1962: Flea (Michael Balzary) (Bass for The Red Hot Chili Peppers)

1969: Wendy Wilson (Singer in Wilson Phillips)

1971: Chad Gray (Singer for Mudvayne)

1977: John Mayer (Singer / Songwriter & Guitarist)

Events

1962: Motown launches its first "package tour," a revue of the label's artists featuring Marvin Gaye, The Miracles, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, and Mary Wells, in Washington DC.

1966: Folk singer Joan Baez is among 124 antiwar protesters arrested for blocking entrance to an Army Induction Center in Oakland, CA. She is sentenced to ten days in jail.

1972: Internal strife between the three remaining band members -- reportedly due to leader John Fogerty's reluctance to give up creative control -- lead to today's public breakup of Creedence Clearwater Revival. The press statement tries to put the best possible face on the incident, "We don't regard this as breaking up. We look at it as an expansion of our activities."

1986: Chuck Berry is the center of an all-star "60th birthday" bash in his hometown of St. Louis, a tribute concert -- held three days before his actual 60th -- where the legendary rocker is joined by Keith Richards, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Etta James, Robert Cray, Linda Ronstadt, and many others on stage at the local Fox Theatre. The making of the concert and the show itself are filmed by veteran director Taylor Hackford for the critically acclaimed hits 1987 documentary Hail! Hail! Rock 'N' Roll.

2001: After Bob Dylan hires extra security guards in preparation for his comeback "Love And Theft" tour, two of the guards turn Dylan himself back when the singer forgets his own pass. The new guards are fired.

2002: Billy Joel leaves the Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan, CT, where it is rumored he's been undergoing treatment for alcoholism.

2003: Simon and Garfunkel open their new "Old Friends" Tour with a concert in Wilkes-Barre, PA.

2004: Alabama performs what's hailed as its final show, in Bismarck, North Dakota.

2006: CBGB, the legendary New York punk club credited with discovering Patti Smith and The Ramones, closed after a final gig by Smith herself.

October 15

Births

1920: Mario Puzo (Wrote The Godfather)

1938: Fela Kuti (Nigerian Musician)

1946: Richard Carpenter (Piano in The Carpenters)

1948: Chris DeBurgh (Pop Singer)

1953: Tito Jackson (Lead Guitar & Vocals in The Jacksons)

1966: Eric Benét (R&B Singer)

1970: Ginuwine (Elgin Lumpkin) (R&B Singer)

1981: Keyshia Cole (R&B Singer)

Events

1960: While in Hamburg, The Beatles back Wally Eymond, the guitarist for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, on his version of George Gershwin's "Summertime." As Beatles drummer Pete Best is absent from the session, the band plays with Rory Storm's drummer, Ringo Starr. This is the first known recording of the group together, though the master is lost to history; two years later, the group would hire Ringo permanently.

1964: Cole Porter died of kidney failure at the age of 73 in Santa Monica, California.

1965: Mike Love of the Beach Boys marries his second wife, Suzanne Celeste Belcher, in Las Vegas.

1965: Jimi Hendrix signs his first recording contract -- for one dollar plus one percent of his royalties.

1968: The former New Yardbirds, now known as Led Zeppelin, perform their first gig under that name at England's Surrey University.

1969: Famed blues singer Howlin' Wolf suffers his first non-fatal heart attack.

1969: Johnny Cash wins a record-setting five times during the Country Music Association awards at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. He wins Entertainer and Male Vocalist; Album, for "San Quentin"; Single, for "A Boy Named Sue"; and Vocal Group, with June Carter.

1971: Rick Nelson (formerly Ricky) is invited to perform at the Seventh Annual Rock 'n' Roll Revival Show, an oldies concert held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Debuting some of his newer, country-rock material with his Stone Canyon Band, Nelson is booed by the audience; the experience so unnerves the former teen idol that he goes home and pens a song about the experience, ironically entitled "Garden Party." Ironically, in 1972 it will become his first US Top Ten hit since 1963's "For You."

1973: The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards is found guilty in Nice, France, of possessing and intending to distribute both marijuana and heroin. He receives a one-year suspended sentence, is fined 5,000 francs, and is forbidden from entering the country for two years.

1973: Having experienced respiratory problems for the past four days, Elvis Presley is admitted to Memphis' Baptist Memorial Hospital, where Dr. George Nichopoulos, Elvis' personal physician, discovers his patient's addiction to Demerol.

1976: Ike and Tina Turner split their musical act.

1977: Debbie Boone’s “You Light Up My Life” hits #1 and stays there for 10 weeks.  It will go on to be the #1 song of 1977 and of the decade.

1980: For the first time ever, London's legendary Abbey Road Studios auctions off thousands of dollars of equipment, including some used on Beatles recordings.

1991: Creedence Clearwater Revival leader John Fogerty is the proud father of son Shane Cody, his fourth child.

1995: Paul and Linda McCartney make a memorable appearance on tonight's "Lisa The Vegetarian" episode of FOX's The Simpsons, doing their voice-overs only on condition that the Lisa character stay a vegetarian forever after.

1997: Patricia Ann Richardson filed suit against Snoop Doggy Dogg, his former manager Sharita Knight, and Death Row Records for allegedly tricking her into transporting packages of marijuana to a venue where Snoop Doggy Dogg was performing.

1998: MCA Records Inc. filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against New Edition members Ralph Tresvant, Johnny Gill, Ricardo Bell, Michael Bivins, and Ronald DeVoe for alleged failure to deliver albums.

2003: Dave Clark Five lead singer Mike Smith suffers a tragic fall from a ladder at his home in Spain, leaving him without any movement in three limbs. He would remain a near-quadriplegic until his death in 2008 from pneumonia, a complication of the original injury.

October 11

Births

1919: Art Blakey (Jazz Drummer)

1932: Dottie West (Dorothy Marsh) (Country Singer)

1946: Daryl Hall (Singer, Guitar & Keyboards for Hall and Oates)

1962: Andy McCoy (Antti Hulkko) (Lead Guitar for Hanoi Rocks)

1965: Alexander Hacke (Vocals, Guitar & Bass for Einstürzende Neubauten)

1967: Artie Lange (Comedian)

1970: MC Lyte (Lana Michele Moorer) (Rapper)

1973: Mike Smith (Guitar for Snot & Limp Bizkit)

Events

1960: Aretha Franklin delivers her first stage performance tonight, at New York's famed Village Vanguard.

1963: French singer Edith Piaf died of liver cancer at age 47 at Plascassier, on the French Riviera.

1965: Gerry Marsden of Gerry and the Pacemakers marries his first wife, Pauline Behan -- the former secretary of his fan club.

1967: CBS presents Barbra Streisand's third television special, The Belle Of 14th Street, also starring Jason Robards.

1969: Muddy Waters is severely injured in a car crash just outside Chicago that leaves three other passengers dead. Waters will remain absent from music for about a year, and will rarely stand up on stage again.

1970: Elvis Presley is made an honorary "special" deputy sheriff of Bel Air, CA.

1975: The very first musical guest on the new NBC-TV series Saturday Night (later Saturday Night Live) is Janis Ian, who performs her hit "At Seventeen."

1986: Janet Jackson started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'When I Think Of You', her first US No.1.

1990: Drummer Dave Grohl played his first gig with Nirvana when they appeared at the North Shore Surf Club in Olympia.

1991: Apple Computers settles their first trademark lawsuit against the Beatles' Apple Corps for a paltry $29 million, an issue that the Beatles' handlers would open back up when the Internet made music sales possible on computers.

1995: Tupac Shakur was released from Clinton Correctional Prison on $1.4 Million bail which was posted by Suge Knight. In return 2Pac signed a three album deal with Knight's Death Row Records.

1999: Deborah Rowe, Michael Jackson's first wife and the former nurse at his plastic surgeon's office, files for divorce from the singer.

1999: Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee was released on $5000 bail after facing charges relating to a riot at a gig in North Carolina in 1997. Lee allegedly incited the crowd to attack a guard and had also poured a drink over his head.

2005: Rod Stewart received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame to honor a career spanning more than 40 years.

2006: Madonna adopted a one-year-old boy in Malawi, Africa, the boy's father, Yohane Banda, told reporters "I know he will be very happy in America." The boy’s mother had died a week after he was born.

2009: Barbra Streisand went to No.1 on the US album charts with ‘Love Is the Answer’. Streisand's ninth No.1 album, making her the only artist to have a number one album in America in five different decades.

2009: 54-year-old Jo Wood, wife of The Rolling Stones' Ronnie Wood, was granted a divorce after 24 years of marriage on the grounds of adultery. The couple split in 2008 after the guitarist, 64, began a relationship with a 20-year-old woman.

October 10

Births

1914: Ivory Joe Hunter (R&B Singer)

1917: Thelonious Monk (Jazz Pianist)

1946: John Prine (Country / Folk Singer-Songwriter)

1953: Midge Ure (Guitarist & Singer / Songwriter)

1954: David Lee Roth (Vocals for Van Halen & Solo)

1958: Tanya Tucker (Country Singer)

1960: Eric Martin (Vocals for Mr Big)

1979: Mya (Mya Marie Harrison) (R&B Singer)

Events

1902: Kalamazoo, MI, mandolin maker Orville Gibson founds the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co, Ltd. In 1936 it would create the first commercially successful electric guitar.

1959: Barry Gordy's first release on the newly established Motown Records, "Bad Girls" by The Miracles, entered the Billboard Pop chart.

1965: The Supremes made their first appearance on the "Ed Sullivan Show."

1970: Neil Diamond went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Cracklin' Rosie', his first No.1 as an artist. Diamond wrote the 1966 No.1 hit 'I'm A Believer' for The Monkees.

1970: The US' Federal Communications Commission (FCC) head, Nicholas Johnson, responds to recent comments made by Vice President Spiro Agnew that attacked radio stations for playing songs that contained "drug culture propaganda in too many of the lyrics the message of the drug culture is purveyed," saying, "If we really want to do something about drugs, let's do something about life... The songwriters are trying to help us understand our plight and deal with it. It's about the only leadership we're getting. They're not really urging you to adopt a heroin distribution program, Mr. Vice President."

1978: At tonight's Aerosmith show in Philadelphia, PA, an audience member tosses a "cherry bomb" firecracker onto the stage, injuring singer Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry. The band performs behind a chain-link fence for the rest of the tour.

1979: Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley declares today "Fleetwood Mac Day" and unveils a star for the band on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6608 Hollywood Blvd.

1979: The film The Rose, a thinly-veiled biopic of Janis Joplin starring Bette Midler, premieres in Hollywood.

1987: Wanda Nicholls made an official complaint that David Bowie raped her and bit her on the legs and back. Bowie dismissed the alleged incident, claiming Nicholls was 'publicity seeking.'

1992: Slash (Guitar for Guns N' Roses) and Renee Suran were married.

1999: Las Vegas' Grand Hotel holds an auction of several hundred thousand dollars' worth of Elvis memorabilia, including the King's wristwatch, cigar box, and his 1956 Lincoln Continental.

2000: Britney Spears made her UK live debut when she played the first of three sold out nights at London's Wembley Arena.

2001: Dennis DeYoung sues Styx, his former band, for touring and singing his songs without him. He'd left the band in 1999 due to chronic fatigue syndrome.

2002: Twelve protesters dressed as monkeys picketed outside the north Wales holiday home of former Stone Roses singer Ian Brown. The demonstrators argued Brown was selling the five-bedroom house, in the small village of Llithfaen on the Llyn Peninsula for an inflated price - $300,000- which local people could not afford. The monkey costumes worn by the anonymous protesters, referred to the name of Brown's recent solo album 'Unfinished Monkey Business.'